Peter Cole - Wobblies on the Waterfront: Interracial Unionism in Progressive-Era Philadelphia January 29, 2008

For almost a decade during the 1910s and 1920a, the Philadelphia waterfront was home to the most durable interracial, multiethnic union seen in the United States prior to the CIO era. For much of its time, Local 8 was majority black, always with a cadre of black leaders. The union also claimed immigrants form Eastern Europe, as well as many Irish Americans, who had a notorious reputation for racism. This important study is the first book-length examination of how Local 8, affiliated with the Industrial Workers of the World, accomplished what no other did at the time.